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Everything posted by anyweb
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Introduction In the latest Windows 365 update from Microsoft, they’ve added a long awaited and desired feature, the ability to use the local PC’s web camera in your Cloud PC via the web client. The web client is another way of saying the web browser that you use to connect to your Windows 365 Cloud PC. While this preview feature was released the week of July 17th, it may not show up for you yet, take note of the note in the graphic below where it states that each monthly update may roll out over several weeks and might not be immediately available to all customers. How does it work ? To use the web client simply use a web browser of your choice and browse to windows365.microsoft.com and enter the credentials (when prompted) of a user that is assigned a Windows 365 license. Once done you’ll see a screen similar to this showing the Windows 365 Cloud PC’s assigned to that user. Click on the Open in browser button. you should see a bunch of options such as below, if you don’t see Camera (Preview) yet, then wait and try again, it should be available globally by July 31st, 2023. If you do see it then continue ! You should see a popup in the top left of the browser asking you to Allow (or block) the Camera. Click Allow and continue. To test the camera, I used the built in camera app. Once launched I could see it was working ! Great ? Next, I launched Teams and configured the settings in there to use the camera, it worked ! but the quality again, was at the minimum level, which no chance to change focus or brightness. Next I tested flipping from the external camera to the inbuilt camera, that worked but as with the Logitech camera I couldn’t control focus/brightness or quality. Finally, I tried using another browser (the above was using Edge) and this time I used Chrome. The results seemed slightly better (better focus/resolution) even though the settings of the Camera app still revealed the same resolution, so I don’t know what’s going on there… While this new feature is great there are some downsides which I’ll mention below. You cannot control fine tune settings that are normally present on my Logitech HD Pro C920 such as: Brightness Focus Resolution The resolution seems adequate but not up to the quality I expect for my camera. For example, when looking at the quality on the Windows 365 Cloud PC redirected it’s set to a bare minimum (and I cannot see how to change it) 0.3 MP at 640 x 480 resolution. Yes, there is a drop down menu at the 0.3 MP at 640 x 480 resolution but it only shows that resolution and nothing else. But looking at the same camera on the local host PC I get a full 3.0 MP at 2304 x 1296 resolution, and the results are quite different. That’s quite a difference! Summary I understand this is still in preview but it would be nice to have control over the cameras true functionality to provide a better end user experience. That said, well done to the Microsoft Product Group for listening to our earlier complaints about the lack of this functionality, I’m impressed that it’s finally here and I look forward to it improving before GA. cheers niall Related reading https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-365/enterprise/whats-new#windows-365-web-client-camera-support-preview https://www.windows-noob.com/forums/topic/23124-getting-started-with-windows-365-part-4-connecting-to-your-cloud-pc/
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Introduction The Windows 365 product group keep on listening to customer feedback and adding new features. One recent example of this is the following new setting, when browsing to https://windows365.microsoft.com you can now open in browser or open in desktop app. Let's take a look at this new open in desktop app feature. How does it work ? To use the web client simply browse to https://windows365.microsoft.com and enter the credentials (when prompted) of a user that is assigned a Windows 365 license. Once done you'll see a screen similar to this showing the Windows 365 Cloud PC's assigned to that user. Normally the end user would click on Open in browser and continue their Windows 365 session right there (in the browser), but now there's an additional option in the drop down, called Open in desktop app. Note: Opening your Windows 365 Cloud PC using the Windows 365 App provides the best experience as more features are available. If the user selects Open in desktop app they'll see the following user interface (UI). There are actually an additional 2 options provided. Yes, I want to open in Windows 365 Yes, I want to open in Remote Desktop Selecting the Windows 365 app option The default option is to open using the Windows 365 app, however you can also select to use the Remote Desktop client agent (AVD). Selecting the default may show the following on the first run (for Windows 10 devices with the Windows 365 App installed), I tested this using Edge in InPrivate mode on Windows 10: on a Windows 11 device using Chrome in Incognito mode, I saw this, note how it correctly knows that you have the Windows 365 app installed already: You can place a check mark in the box provided to avoid answering the question again. Next you may see a prompt similar to the following, I saw it on my Windows 10 laptop with the Windows 365 App installed, however this did not show up on the Windows 11 laptop when using Chrome or when using Edge). Opinion: While it's not exactly hard to figure out, I think it would be better to connect the latest version of the Windows 365 app installed on the device with the 'open in desktop app' choice. I've submitted this feedback to the product group, and this does seem to be related to the operating system you are running on the host, namely Windows 10. Selecting the first Windows 365 app, and clicking OK starts the Windows 365 app and that prompts for credentials which once entered opens the Windows 365 Cloud PC as expected. Selecting the Remote desktop option Once you select the second option and click on Continue, you'll see the following the first time you try. Which isn't exactly the same as Remote Desktop, but let's ignore that. Once you click Open it does indeed launch that app as shown here. and after entering your credentials your Windows 365 Cloud PC is usable as before. well that's a look at this new feature, and it's great that the Product Group are continuously developing new features for customers, what do you think of this change, does it help or confuse your users? cheers niall
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This SysAdmin Day, Backup & WIN with Hornetsecurity! It's that time of year again: SysAdmin Day, reminds us to appreciate all the Sysadmins around the world, who are always ready to support our requests, bizarre as they may seem, with patience and dedication. From the Hornetsecurity team, here goes a big thank you! If you are a System/IT Admin and use Hyper-V or VMware, celebrate with us, by taking a chance to win a Pixel Tablet. Get Started today by signing up for a 30-day free trial of VM Backup V9. HOW CAN YOU WIN? 1. Sign up for a 30-day free trial of VM Backup V9 2. Download & Set Up your VM Backup 3. Upload a screenshot of your dashboard showing at least 1 successfully backed up VM! The FIRST 50 eligible participants will also receive a €10 Amazon Voucher when signing up and setting up the trial for VM Backup! What are you waiting for? Sign up Now!
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Bitlocker Portal Error
anyweb replied to ASHIKIN AMIRUDDIN's question in Troubleshooting, Tools, Hints and Tips
ok in your original screenshots the recovery id you entered doesn't match the one shown with manage-bde -protectors -get c:, so are you sure you are testing this correctly ? -
i don't understand, what do you mean that the certificate generated by the SCCM server will be intercepted ?
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Bitlocker Portal Error
anyweb replied to ASHIKIN AMIRUDDIN's question in Troubleshooting, Tools, Hints and Tips
what version of ConfigMgr are you using and are you using the new built in Bitlocker management capabilities or are you using the no longer supported MBAM setup ? -
Using UI++ With SCCM
anyweb replied to coolsport00's topic in System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch)
have you looked at this blog post yet ? https://www.recastsoftware.com/resources/configmgr-docs/configmgr-community-tools/ui/ -
Autopilot deployment profile get not assigned
anyweb replied to maikwhat's topic in Microsoft Intune
what have you assigned the deployment profile to, and is the device in that group ? -
here's the guide
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Issues with WinPE.
anyweb replied to triston1434's topic in System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch)
which version of mdt ? -
Issues with WinPE.
anyweb replied to triston1434's topic in System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch)
is this an MDT enabled environment or pure SCCM, if so what version of SCCM ? -
Issues with WinPE.
anyweb replied to triston1434's topic in System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch)
if you can grab the smsts.log from a machine that has the problem and attach it here that would be great -
Install Custom SCCM Client
anyweb replied to coolsport00's topic in System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch)
as these are servers you could create a network logon script targeted only to the servers to do exactly what you want, install your 'custom' package, have you tried that ? -
Introduction This is Part 8 in a new series of guides about getting started with Windows 365. This series of guides will help you to learn all about Windows 365 in a clear and insightful way. This series is co-written by Niall & Paul, both of whom are Enterprise Mobility MVP’s with broad experience in the area of modern management. At the time of writing, Paul is a 6 times Enterprise Mobility MVP based in the UK and Niall is a 12 times Enterprise Mobility MVP based in Sweden. In this series we aim to cover everything we learn about Windows 365 and share it with you to help you to deploy it safely and securely within your own organization. In Part 1 we introduced you to Windows 365, selecting the right edition with the level of management that you need, choosing the plan that suits your users needs at a cost you can afford, or modifying the configuration to make it more suited to your individual needs, purchasing licenses and saving money for your organization via the Windows Hybrid Benefit. In Part 2 you learned how to provision an Azure Ad joined Cloud PC and take a look at the different network options available when provisioning an Azure Ad joined Cloud PC. In Part 3 you learned about the steps needed to successfully provision a Hybrid Azure Ad Joined Cloud PC. In Part 4 you saw the many different ways you can connect to your Cloud PC from many device be it Android, Mac, Windows, Linux or iPhone and you learned that not all connection options have the same abilities. In Part 5 we covered the management capabilities of your Cloud PCs and explained the different options available depending on which version (Business versus Enterprise) that you purchase. In Part 6 we looked at the built in configurable backup technology in Windows 365 which is known as Point-in-time restore, which gives the admin (or user) the ability to restore Cloud PC's to an earlier time before a problem such as a Ransomware incident occurred. In Part 7 we looked at the ability to use Windows Autopatch to patch your Cloud PC's with ease and covered how to allow access to admins without licenses, enrolling into Windows Autopatch, the Readiness assessment tool, device registration and moving devices between deployment rings. Finally we looked at Windows Autopatch reports and the overall User Experience. In this part we'll take a look at the long awaited Windows 365 Boot feature and learn all about it. Below you can find all parts in this series: Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 1. Introduction Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 2. Provisioning an Azure Ad Joined Cloud PC Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 3. Provisioning a Hybrid Azure Ad Joined Cloud PC Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 4. Connecting to your Cloud PC Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 5. Managing your Cloud PC Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 6. Point in time restore Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 7. Patching your Cloud PCs with Windows Autopatch Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 8. Windows 365 boot <- you are here Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 9. Windows 365 switch Getting started with Windows 365 - Part 10. Windows 365 offline In this part we'll cover the following: Introduction to Windows 365 Boot Prerequisites Enabling Windows 365 Boot Preparing devices for Windows 365 Boot Using Windows 365 Boot Recommended reading Summary Introduction to Windows 365 Boot Update: Windows 365 Boot and Switch became Generally Available 26th September, 2023, so as long as you are using Windows 11 22H2 with build 2361 or later (or natively in Windows 11 23H2 later in Q4), then there should be no need to use the Windows Insider Preview steps mentioned below. Windows 365 Boot lets admins configure Windows 11 physical devices so that users can: Avoid signing in to their physical device. Sign in directly to their Windows 365 Cloud PC on their physical device. If that's confusing, then keep in mind that Windows 365 Boot is defined by Microsoft as follows: Prerequisites To setup Windows 365 Boot the following prerequisites need to be met on the physical devices: Enroll each physical device into Windows Autopilot. Assign the physical device to the Windows 365 Boot Enrollment Status Page (for Windows Autopilot) Assign the physical device to the Windows 365 Boot Azure AD group you created in the guided scenario wizard. Enabling Windows 365 Boot To enable Windows 365 Boot in your tenant do as follows. Navigate to the Windows 365 provisioning node and you should see a Windows 365 Boot guide as shown in the screenshot below. You need to click on that to start the guided scenario. And here it is, the Introduction screen of the guided scenario for Windows 365 Boot. Clicking Next gathers the basic info, including whether or not you want to use a device name template (as you do for Windows Autopilot devices...). Once you've confirmed the resource name prefix, it'll list a list of resources that will be created using that naming convention. Even though you can use Windows Autopatch to patch your Windows 365 Boot devices, there's no easy way to do that (yet) in this wizard, we've provided that feedback already to the Product Group. For now, configure the settings as appropriate. On the next screen (Settings) you get to choose an option VPN and Wi-Fi setup, and to decide which language to use. On the next screen you add your assignments. We chose to create a new group and gave it a suitable name. Finally you'll get a summary of the settings you've chosen along with a list of resources it will create. Note that the guided scenario creates several things as part of the setup including an Enrollment Status Page profile, a Windows Autopilot deployment profile, and some apps which must be installed before the device can be logged on to. These and other configuration profiles are listed/defined in the policy set created during the wizard. You can find the Windows 365 Boot policy set in Apps, Policy Sets. Also to note, when the Windows 365 Boot ESP is created, it's at the lowest priority so if you want your shared devices/hosts to get that profile, make sure to increase the priority or change the assignments. Preparing devices for Windows 365 Boot Now you are ready to test Windows 365 Boot, and to do so you'll need a device that matches the prerequisites mentioned earlier. You can use Intune Update Rings to target Windows 11 devices with that Windows 11 version. Each physical device (and Cloud PC) must be running one of the following, version 22621.2361 or later: Windows 11 Enterprise Windows 11 Professional Windows IoT Enterprise Once those devices are upgraded then add them to the Windows 365 boot group that you defined during the wizard. After the device is running the correct version of Windows 11, use Windows Autopilot to enroll as normal and make sure it's in the Azure Ad group targeted with the Windows 365 Boot policy Using Windows 365 Boot After Windows Autopilot enrollment is complete on your shared physical device it will be ready for Windows 365 Boot and that will become obvious as the logon screen changes. You'll get the following login screen, which is the new Windows 365 Boot login UI with a cool Windows 365 logo. Note how it clearly states that your data will be stored on your Cloud PC. To login, click Sign-in options and enter the credentials of a user with a Windows 365 license. It'll state "preparing Windows" for a moment followed more excitingly by this. However, we are using a hybrid azure ad joined Cloud PC the next part is less exiting as their is no possibility to configure single sign on (SSO) yet. After signing in again (and completing MFA) it will show your Cloud PC ! And here's where the fun starts, as this is a shared PC scenario, multiple users can login (after the other users logs off...) as long as they are assigned a Cloud PC. So here for example is another user logged on to the same Windows 365 Boot device, however their Cloud PC is running Windows 10. As the physical device is connected directly to your Cloud PC, resources such as the MIC, Camera are shared with the Cloud PC allowing you to use them in Teams calls etc. One thing to be aware of however is that once Windows 365 Boot 'takes over' a physical device you can no longer get back to the main UI on that device without first removing the physical device from the targeted device configuration profiles in Intune. You can however bring up task manager to run Explorer.exe and browse your local files on the physical device if needed. Note that Microsoft will most likely remove the ability to start the Task Manager on physical devices once Windows 365 Boot exits from Preview. Recommended reading Deploy the public preview today - Windows 365 Boot What is Windows 365 Boot? | Microsoft Learn Windows 365 Boot guided scenario Windows 365 Boot physical device requirements. Restrict user access to Windows 365 Boot physical device. Troubleshoot Windows 365 Boot. Visit the Microsoft tech community blog Restrict user access to Windows 365 Boot physical device. | Microsoft Learn Windows 365 Boot guided scenario | Microsoft Learn Summary Windows 365 Boot in its current form (preview) allows shared PC's to be used for connecting straight to a Windows 365 Cloud PC, you could say booting to the Cloud PC but in reality the host device must boot up first. It is seamless however, and very well executed. You simply prepare the device, hand it over to the user and they logon to their Cloud PC. Once they are done, they can hand the physical device back and another user can use it to connect to their Cloud PC. This is a great way of simplifying this scenario, and having all the back end bits created by the wizard makes it a breeze to setup. The downside is that once you've targeted a device with this policy, there's not a whole lot you can do on it other than connect to Cloud PC's, but all you have to do to restore it's former glory is to remove it from the device configuration profiles targeted to it.